Team skating gold gives Russia momentum

11:01 PM,
Feb. 9, 2014

Written by

Nancy Armour
USA TODAY Sports

Russia limped out of the Vancouver Games, its pride bruised from winning just 15 medals.

It was only one more than South Korea, no one's idea of a Winter Olympics powerhouse, and wasn't even good enough to crack the top 10 in the gold medals count. For a nation used to ruling the snow and ice, it would have been an embarrassment under any circumstance. But with a home Olympics in Sochi, a party Russia would pay $51 billion for, looming, the situation was dire.

Fast-forward four years, and things didn't look any better when Russia ended the first day of competition without a single medal. Not until ...